Heretofore, railroad-crossing warning systems use pole lines connected to trackside devices to communicate vital train information to passing motorists and pedestrians. That is, present day railroad warning systems use pole lines to transmit a signal to a flashing light and a retractable gate to warn pedestrians and motorists that a train is approaching the railroad crossing.
The high cost of constructing and maintaining these systems as well as their susceptibility to adverse weather conditions and their unappealing effect on the surrounding scenery, however, have made such present day systems less than desirable. In addition, due to the high number of railroad crossing accidents each year, such present day systems are not reliable for providing safety to such motorists and pedestrians.
One solution to this problem was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,395 issued on Jul. 17, 1990, to Ferrari, et. al. (hereinafter Ferrari '395) and incorporated herein by reference. Ferrari '395 discloses a wireless warning system that provides warning of an oncoming train to motorists traveling within a given proximity of the railroad crossing. Basically, the Ferrari '395 warning system uses a three-transceiver system, wherein the oncoming train has a mounted transceiver that constantly sends a warning radio signal to a transceiver unit, located on a pole at the railroad crossing, which, in turn, sends a warning signal to a transceiver unit located within the vehicle of each motorist. That is, the Ferrari '395 warning system focus' solely on warning passing motorists who have a transceiver installed in their vehicle, wherein the transceiver is equipped with a display for visually alerting the motorist of an oncoming train.
Although the Ferrari '395 warning system provides a means of communicating warning information to motorists crossing the path of an oncoming train, the Ferrari '395 system fails to consider the safety of pedestrians and those motorists that do not have an automobile with such a transceiver installed. In addition, Ferrari '395 fails to provide a means for protecting those motorists stuck in the crossing in the path of an approaching train. Moreover, Ferrari '395 does not address the warning standards of present day non-wireless warning systems (i.e. 20 second minimum warning time). As a result, the Ferrari '395 system fails to protect those motorists stuck in the path of a train that can not stop before it enters the crossing. Since a fully loaded train can take over 1.5 minutes to come to a complete stop, such motorists stuck in the intersection have no protection under both present day warning systems as well as the system disclosed in Ferrari '395.
In addition, in present day systems, there are times when there is no train approaching a crossing where the warning lights are flashing and the gates are down blocking the road. Yet, there are times when the gates and flashing lights are non-functional as a train approaches the crossing. In such situations, present day systems do not provide an auxiliary or backup measure to protect motorists and pedestrians approaching or those stuck in the crossing area.